Wednesday, August 6, 2014

A Farewell to Arms, Not Likely

The conflict in Gaza seems to be following the usual
paradigm. Charges and counter–charges by the principals. Civilians being murdered,
armaments stored in hospitals and schools. Who can say with certainty what is
true and what is not. As the ancient Greek Aeschylus said, “In war, truth is
the first casualty.”

Another fragile cease
fire seems to be holding for the time being. How long will it last? A few days;
a few weeks; a few months? All that can be said with certainty is -- it will not last.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a quandary for the ages.
Indeed, the whole of the Middle East is a Rubik’s cube of misery ever since the British
and French divided the spoils of the Ottoman Empire into colonial fiefdoms they
figured to exploit to enrich the home front with the mother’s milk of
industrialization: oil. It was to their advantage to have friendly, and, in
some cases, ruthlessautocracies in
place to maintain the status quo. But with the Arab spring and its aftermath we
are seeing an unraveling ofthe region. The one constant has been the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the latest chapter, the pendulum of
support seems to be favoring the Palestinian side. Because of the disproportionate
amount of fatalities , world opinion is shifting toward Israel’s enemies for
the first time. In Europe and the US, demonstrations against Israel are
becomingmore frequent and vociferous.
There is palpable support
for the Palestinians and it continues to grow.

Unfortunately, only more misery lies ahead for them. Their
country is non-contiguous, governed(and I use that term loosely) by two ruling factions which cannot unite
in any meaningful way. Hamas in Gaza has
remained stridentin its goal to destroy
Israel. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, more moderate than Hamas
but just as intransigent, can only lament the proliferation of more Jewish settlements
on their land.

What’s next. Another tenuous truce. More non-productive
peace talks; then, if Israel decides not
to re-occupy Gaza, more Hamas rockets will rain down on the Israelis. And they will respond more forcefully again.

General MacArthur had it right when he said, “War’s very object is victory, not prolonged
indecision.” In this war the object is more indecision, not victory.